1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors for a flat cable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese patent application Kokai No. 9-35828 discloses an electrical connector of this type.
As FIG. 5 shows, in this connector, a flat cable (flexible board) 51 is inserted into an inserting space of an open mouth in a surface direction of the flat cable, direction A in the figure, so as to be placed on contact sections 54 of terminals which are arranged facing to the open mouth of a housing 52. This inserting space is like a very narrow slit, and slightly larger than the cross-sectional shape of the flat cable 51. To ensure the inserting position of the flat cable 51, restricting blades 55 which contact with upper surface of the inserted flat cable at its lower surfaces are attached at both sides in the cross direction of a flat cable. The restricting blade 55 has a surface edge that is perpendicular to the inserting direction of the flat cable. At the open mouth of the housing 52, a pressure member 56 to open and close the open mouth is attached to the housing, so as to freely rotate. The pressure member 56 enables insertion of a flat cable 51 at open position by opening the inserting space, while it presses the inserted flat cable against the connection section 54 of a terminal.
However, in this type of connector, the entrance of inserting space is so deeply located that it is difficult to see, and is narrow, so that the flat cable 51 can not be inserted in there easily. Moreover, for a connector required to be low profile, it is impossible to design a large inserting.
In addition, in the connector, the position of pressure member 56 is unstable because it is not fixed at the open position, and sometimes it turns over to the closed position unintentionally at the time of inserting a flat cable. In this case, the pressuring member 56 makes it further difficult to see the entrance of the inserting space.
Also, if the front edge of a flat cable hits the surface edge 55A of restricting blade 55 which is supposed to define the inserting position of a flat cable 51, and then an inserting force is applied despite of that, the surface of the flat cable is bent backward so that the cable can not be inserted. The pressure member and restricting blade, like this, worsen above-mentioned problem.